Lula claims that corruption has not been proven in the construction of the stadiums for the 2014 World Cup

On a visit to a training session for the women’s soccer team at the Mané Garrincha stadium, in Brasília, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) said this Saturday (1st) that corruption has not been proven in the works of stadiums for the Men’s World Cup in 2014, held in Brazil.

Lula made the statements when he stated that he hopes that the country will host the 2027 Women’s World Cup.

“In 2014, I was frustrated, because we managed to bring the World Cup here in Brazil [sic] and 2013 was hell in this country [ano em
que foram realizados grandes protestos em várias cidades brasileiras]and the World Cup [de 2014], it has been trivialized. Because not even the sponsors publicized the World Cup [de forma] correct and it was a World Cup held in a very negative climate. Everything was said that there was corruption in the stadiums, everything, and corruption was not proven in any stadium. It’s been ten years [sic] that there was the World Cup and, in no stadium, it was proved that there was corruption. But the allegations happened. This time, it looks like it will be easier because we no longer have to spend money to build a stadium,” said Lula.

Contrary to what the president said, the work on the stadiums for the 2014 World Cup had several evidence of corruption. For example, in 2017, the Court of Auditors of the State of Rio (TCE-RJ) pointed to overbilling of BRL 211 million in updated amounts in the renovation of Maracanã. Odebrecht executives admitted in a plea bargain that the contractor paid bribes of R$7.3 million to defraud the bid for the stadium.

At the end of 2022, the Court of Justice of the Federal District and Territories (TJDFT) condemned former governor Agnelo Queiroz (PT) and former deputy Tadeu Filippelli (MDB) for illicit enrichment for the works in Mané Garrincha. Both were sentenced to pay more than R$ 16 million to the public coffers each and had their political rights suspended for ten years. According to values ​​updated until 2017, the overbilling would have been almost BRL 560 million.

Overbilling was also pointed out and/or there were convictions for those involved in works on other stadiums for the 2014 World Cup, such as Arena das Dunas, in Natal, and Arena Pernambuco.

The women’s team faces Chile in Brasilia this Sunday (2), in a friendly preparatory match for the 2023 World Cup, which will be held in Australia and New Zealand from the second half of July.